Holding On
by The Magnificent Kiwi
Summary: When Jill catches her boyfriend cheating on her, she completely shuts herself off from the male world just as Chris starts to accept his feelings for her. And Leon and Claire are in denial about their feelings Will they finally come to their senses? CJ LC
1. Prologue

I don't care  
  
Cause I'm still here  
  
And I've got nothing left to lose  
  
With all the years I wasted on you  
  
Mommy and Daddy got the best cocaine  
  
Ritalin's never gonna feel the same  
  
Twenty-four hours on an empty brain  
  
I got my finger on the trigger and you're in my way  
  
I'm bouncing off the walls again  
  
I'm looking like a fool again  
  
I threw away my reputation  
  
One more song for the radio station  
  
*Sugarcult - Bouncing Off The Walls Again*  
  
Jill blinked as the curtains opened and sunlight came streaming in through the window. 'What the?' was the first thing she thought.  
  
"It's almost noon, I thought you'd died on me," a familiar voice laughed. Jill recognised it as the voice of her old friend and current flat-mate Leon Scott Kennedy. Ignoring his statement, she pulled the covers up and rolled over. Leon sighed and grabbed the corner of the blanket and pulled it away from her.  
  
"Ooh! Can't you just let me sleep!" She snarled. Leon just laughed, he knew what she was like first thing in the morning.  
  
"Ben is expecting you," he told her. At the mention of her boyfriend's name, Jill jumped out of bed and started rummaging through her drawers for some clothes. Leon just laughed and left her to get changed.  
  
It was late June, and roughly two years had passed since Umbrella were put out of business and all their research was destroyed. Since then, most of the S.T.A.R.S. team had managed to get their lives back on track; Claire and Leon were getting close, though they both denied that their friendship had progressed any further than best friends, Chris had been promoted to head of the S.T.A.R.S. team, Barry had settled down with his wife and kids, Sherry had attached herself to Leon and Claire and Carlos and Rebecca had got together. As for Jill, well she couldn't have been happier. Not long after the fall of Umbrella, she met a young, successful lawyer who introduced himself as Ben Johnson and they hit it off right away. It also appeared that Ben was the son of the multi-billionaire Jack Johnson, which made him, smart, funny, handsome, kind and filthy rich. 'Not a bad outcome for a hideous start at life,' Jill thought. She smiled as gazed at a picture of her and Ben taken not that long ago. In the photograph, you could only see from the shoulders up, and Ben had his arms around her, his  
  
dark brown hair blowing carelessly in the wind. Jill's smile grew as she remembered the day it was taken, they had all went on a well-deserved vacation to Paris, and Claire had dragged them into Disneyland several times. The photograph was taken on the last day of that holiday, and Big Thunder Mountain was just visible in the distance.  
  
Realising that she was still not dressed, she hastily pulled on a pair of jeans and desperately looked around for a t-shirt. Noticing the washing- pile on a chair in the far corner of the room, she grabbed the t-shirt on the top if the pile, which just happened to be Leon's Iron Maiden, tour t- shirt. 'He won't mind,' she thought, pulling it over her head. Grabbing her car keys and purse, she ran her fingers through her hair and dashed to their apartment door.  
  
"See ya!" She yelled to Leon as she rushed past him, almost making him drop the plate he was carrying. She heard him give a startled "Woah!" and slammed the door shut, racing down the stairs to the bottom of the apartment block and diving into her car. To her surprise, it started almost instantly. 'Today is a good day,' she smiled, not able to wait to see her lover. He had been on business to Canada for the past month and had only just arrived back late  
  
last night, so it had been a while since they had seen each other. Lost in thoughts about what they would get up to when they finally met again, Jill almost knocked over a stray cat wandering across the road.  
  
"I'm bouncing off the walls again, woah, I'm looking like a fool again, woah," she sang as her favourite song came on the radio.  
  
Although it wasn't the most romantic song in the world, it was the song playing in the café when she first met Ben, and it constantly reminded her of him. "Pull myself back together just to fall once more...mmm...hmm...put up a picture so you can tear me down..."  
  
Although she obsessed over it, she was still in the process of learning the words. Unable to hold back her emotions anymore, she had barely stopped the engine when she jumped out of her car and opened Ben's front door with her key.  
  
"Ben?!" She called out, "Ben?!" 'He must still be asleep,' she thought. 'Maybe I'll just wait.' She walked over to the leather sofa in the centre of the living room and sat down on it. She looked around the beautifully- decorated room and sighed. 'Maybe this will be my home one day,' she thought, smiling. She could just imagine herself playing with her children on the faux-fur rug in front of the fireplace while Ben talked with one of his colleagues on the phone.  
  
She laughed out loud when she realised how ridiculous this seemed. Not only was it a child's fantasy, to live in a huge posh house with a dozen or so children and dogs running about the house, but Ben's feet were so firmly on the ground that he would never live in a house much bigger than the one he currently owned. It was the only thing stopping him from living in a huge mansion in the country, where his father was constantly begging him to stay. He always said that he never wanted to be a 'snotty git' as he called it, and was perfectly happy living in the less perfect urban scene.  
  
'I can't wait,' Jill thought and stood up, briefly glancing in the mirror hung in the passage way before heading off to Ben's room.  
  
She grinned at the thought of what was only a few seconds away as she quietly padded up the stairs, careful not to make too much noise in case she woke him. She took a deep breath as she stood in front of his bedroom door. 'Ok,' She thought, 'This is it!' and rested her  
  
hand on the door handle. She was about to turn it when she heard a strange noise coming from the other side of the door. 'What the?!' she thought, straining her ears to hear a little better. It sounding a bit like muffled moaning. Curious, she flung the door open...and  
  
screamed. "Jill!" Ben gasped, disentangling himself from the young Canadian woman who was currently sharing the bed with him.  
  
"Ben!" Jill screamed, her eyes wide with shock. "How could you...? No forget it, I don't want to know."  
  
"Wait! Please, it's not what it looks like!" He said, pulling on his boxers. Jill looked at him in disbelief.  
  
"What the hell do you mean 'It's not what it looks like?'" She screamed. "What were you doing? Practicing ballet?" Ben reached out a hand and placed it on Jill's shoulder, but she pushed it away.  
  
"Just...don't touch me! I don't ever want to see you again!" And with that, she ran downstairs, not stopping until she was outside of her car. She could hear Ben running after her, begging her not to go, but she just ignored him. Almost blinded by tears, she pulled away from his stupid house and sped off down the road, a good ten-miles-per-hour over the speed limit, but for all she cared, they could shoot her down.  
  
It only took half of the time it usually did to get back to her apartment. When she finally reached the floor where her apartment was located, she flung the door open and ran all the way to her room. She knew that she would take her temper out on the first person she saw, and she knew that Leon didn't deserve to be yelled at, so she didn't even greet him as she entered. Slamming her bedroom door behind her, she turned to fall on her bed, only to find  
  
an empty space where it usually was. Confused, she looked around the room to see the bed in the far corner and a bookshelf, filled with books by authors like Anne Rice to Terry Pratchett, where her wardrobe usually stood. Scanning the walls, she saw horror movie promotion posters ranging from old classics such as Dracula, Frankenstein and The Wolf-Man to new ones such as Interview With The Vampire, Ringu and Dawn Of The Dead. There were also a few band posters, HIM, Jimmy Eat World, Iron Maiden and a notice board with a  
  
few frantically-scribbled notes and numbers pinned up on it, including a picture of a floppy-haired man with his arms around a brunette woman.  
  
'Shit!' Was the first thing that came to her mind. Jill only knew one person who was so fanatical about horror movies and the Discworld series. And she didn't see why she would have a photograph of Leon and Claire pinned up on a notice-board which she didn't own.  
  
In her blind dash she had ran into Leon's room instead of her own. Now there was no way that she could get out of confessing everything to him. She heard the door open behind her and Leon entered, looking at her with a quizzical expression.  
  
"What's wrong?" He asked her. She was about to reply with "Nothing" but she felt unwanted tears trickling down her cheeks.  
  
"Jill?" Leon said, "Come on, tell me what's wrong." Jill couldn't bring herself to say anything. Instead she fell into Leon's arms, sobbing.  
  
"He...he...Ben cheated on me."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
AN- I started about three different stories, but I got this one finished first, so I'll post this one. I know that it's short, but It's a prologue, so it's allowed to be :). Also, I am really sick of the name 'ScoobySnax1', so I'm thinking about changing it. Anyway, please tell me what you think of it so far. Also, it's humour as well, but I wasn't allowed three genres. Laters! Oh, and the Japanese version of The Ring or 'Ringu' is much better than the American one. ;) 


	2. Broken Hearts & Broken Homes

I was a fool to believe in you  
  
a sucker for every line  
  
I'm a little less blind  
  
than I was before  
  
I can see right through your design  
  
If looks could kill  
  
you'd be begging me please, please  
  
baby don't hurt me no more  
  
If looks could kill  
  
you'd be reeling from the pain  
  
and you'd never lie again  
  
If looks could kill  
  
*Heart - If Looks Could Kill*  
  
"Do you think she'll be alright?" Claire asked Leon, looking over at Jill, who was currently sitting on the sofa, staring at the blank T.V. screen.  
  
"She's just had her heart ripped out, would you be alright?" Leon replied. Claire sighed and pulled herself up onto the kitchen bench. Unknown to Leon, she had never really loved anyone. Of course there was Steve, but she didn't love him the way that he loved her, and she hated herself for that because he died, probably thinking that she loved him in return. But for the last two years, after the fall of Umbrella, she couldn't help looking at Leon in a different way. It wasn't as though she wanted to, but she had started to think that she was falling in love with him. She shook her head and dismissed any thoughts of them together. 'Is it still classed as puppy love when you're twenty-one?' She asked herself.  
  
"What time is your brother coming home?" Leon asked, his voice bringing Claire back to reality.  
  
"Eh...he should be here any minute, he was just picking some papers up, why?" Leon looked up at her and a horrified expression appeared on her face.  
  
"Oh no! No! No! No!" She screamed, "That's it, we have to stop him, I mean if... Oh God... Ben is so dead." Although he had never admitted it, Claire knew that Chris had feelings for Jill. She also knew that her brother has a short fuse and when it's lit you have to stay well out of the way. If he found out that Ben had so much as looked at another woman, he would have beat him within an inch of his life. If he found out that Ben had cheated on Jill, then the Johnson family should start making funeral arrangements.  
  
"What are we going to do?" Claire squealed, jumping off the bench and violently shaking Leon. He grabbed her arms and held them at a safe distance before even thinking about what his reply would be.  
  
"Well turning my brains into scrambled eggs isn't a very good idea, and we're just going to have to tell him the truth," he said. Claire pulled her arms free and ran her fingers through her hair.  
  
"But...but...Oh, shit! The door!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chris didn't notice anything unusual when he opened the door. Sure, Leon's car had been outside, but he was there so often, Chris was thinking about charging him rent. He liked Leon, he seemed like a good enough guy, and he had saved his sister's life more times than he could count, but he didn't like the way that he looked at Claire. 'Guess you better face the facts, Chris, he's probably going to be your brother-in-law someday,' he told himself. He closed the door behind him and walked over to the sofa, when he realised that there was already someone sitting on it.  
  
"Jill?" He said. Jill looked up, and Chris could tell that she had been crying.  
  
"Chris!" She said, jumping up and flinging her arms around him.  
  
"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked, quickly hugging her back and leading her back to the sofa.  
  
"He...Ben found someone else...On his 'business' trip to Canada. I walked in on them...He tried to deny it, but...What did I do wrong? Why do men always do this to me?" She sobbed.  
  
"He what?" Chris asked, as calmly as he could. Jill opened her mouth to answer him, but suddenly realised her mistake.  
  
"Oh, no! Chris, please don't, please...for me," she pleaded. Chris took a deep breath and clenched his fists.  
  
"Jill, you know-"  
  
"I don't care! This is my problem, please... Just...do it for me, please." He looked at her and nodded reluctantly, but she still wasn't convinced. However, she decided to leave it for now.  
  
"I'm never going to trust another man, ever again," she told him, wiping her eyes. "All men are scum, no offence..."  
  
"None taken."  
  
"I, Jill Valentine, am officially through with men, period. And any man who so much as thinks about asking me out will get his testicles handed to him in a matchbox." Chris swallowed and tried not to look her in the eye. 'I hope she didn't notice where I was staring...' He thought.  
  
"Jill, you can't just give up on relationships just because one man cheated on you. I mean, not all men are like that," he told her, hoping to knock some sense into her.  
  
"Really?" She asked, looking at him and laughing when he nodded. "Okay then. Name one."  
  
"Well...ah," Chris stuttered, frantically looking around the room, hoping that the answer was somehow carved into one of the walls.  
  
"Leon!" He shouted, pointing at the young man who had just entered from the kitchen. "Carlos, Barry, and...well, me...I'm not like that." Jill smiled and tried hard not to laugh when Leon looked at Chris, completely confused.  
  
"Yeah, but you guys are my friends, and besides, I could never think of any of you in that way." She couldn't help but notice a flicker of pain in Chris' eyes when she spoke, but she just dismissed it as a trick of the light. She shook her head and stood up, shoving the tear-stained tissues into her pocket.  
  
"I'm going to lie down for a while, if Ben calls, tell him to get lost," she said, making her way up the stairs.  
  
"Well, that went well, now she's never going to make me an auntie," Claire said, sitting down next to Chris.  
  
"Jesus Christ, Claire!" He yelled, standing up. "She's just lost her boyfriend, and you're already making jokes about 'us'? She needs time to get over this, and besides, why would she ever even consider dating me?" With that he stormed out of the front door, muttering something about finding Carlos, and leaving Claire and Leon all alone.  
  
"What was all that about?" She wondered aloud. Leon shrugged.  
  
"Beats me, but you know he kind of has a thing for Jill," he said. Claire rolled her eyes and looked at Leon as if he had been asleep for the past two years.  
  
"Have you just realised? I mean it's obvious, the way that he looks at her," she told him. Leon sat down next to Claire and placed his arm around her shoulder. Smiling, she leaned into him and closed her eyes. 'I wish I knew what it felt like, to be in love,' she thought.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chris walked slowly through the halls of the C.P.D., not looking up as people carelessly walked into him. 'I knew it,' he thought, 'she could never love me...It's not like I'd expected her to.' He sighed as he opened the door to the S.T.A.R.S. office. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get Jill out of his head. It had only been since she had started dating Ben that he realised how much he loved her, even though he denied that it was anything more than 'just a crush'. But he had been going out of his mind, and had decided that he should accept the feelings that he had for her. This, of course, had only made him even crazier, because he was so close to her, but knew that they would never be closer than best friends. It was killing him, and he decided that he was going to tell her how he felt, even if she told him that she didn't feel the same way, at least he would be able to move on. As they say, you can't lose what you never had. But when he had arrived home, and found Jill crying her eyes out, he just couldn't bear the thought of tearing her up even more, but she had told him how she felt. Her words still repeated over and over in his head, "I could never think of any of you in that way."  
  
"Hey, Chris!" He heard someone yell, snapping him out of his reverie. "Hey, are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah, Carlos, I'm fine," he replied, pulling his chair out and sitting on it. "Fan-fucking-tastic." Carlos raised his eyebrows.  
  
"Whatever, I know that I have like, zero analytical skills, but I can tell that something's bothering you," he persisted.  
  
"Oh, really?" Chris said, sarcastically. Carlos sighed and pulled his chair up by Chris' desk.  
  
"Come on, you'll feel much better once you talk about it," he said.  
  
"No, I won't, trust me, now go away," Chris replied, turning his computer on for no apparent reason.  
  
"Not until you tell me what's wrong!"  
  
"Fine! My best friend's boyfriend has cheated on her, and as a consequence, she has decided never to date again. But, I have fallen completely and hopelessly in love with her, and she has told me that she could never see me as more than a friend. NOW will you please go away?" He hurried.  
  
"Hmm....So, you wanna get into Jill's pants, but she's turned celibate?" Carlos said, more to get a reaction out of Chris than anything else.  
  
"I do NOT want to get into her pants! Do you always think about sex? You are a disgrace to men everywhere!" Carlos grinned and shrugged.  
  
"Maybe, but did Jill actually say that she didn't like you in that way?"  
  
"Well, not in so many words, but...oh, all right then, I'll tell you everything..."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Jill had been fast asleep for at least an hour when she was awoken by something poking her in the side. She opened her eyes a fraction of an inch, and a blurry, brunette figure came into focus.  
  
"Wake up!" Claire yelled, poking Jill in the side yet again, only to have her hand swatted away. "Oh, come ON! Rebecca is here, and we're going to rent a movie to cheer you up."  
  
"Can't I just go back to sleep? Or give me a gun and I'll shoot myself instead," Jill groaned.  
  
"Jill, I know you're hurting, but you can't stay in bed for the rest of your life," Claire said, sitting on the end of the bed.  
  
"What, is there a law against it or something?" Was the reply she got. Claire sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, trying to think of a way to get her friend out of bed. Unfortunately, Jill had a thing about beds, whenever she was depressed, she would climb into one and refuse to come out.  
  
"Actually, let's scratch the rent-a-movie thing and go to the cinema," she suggested, "I'll see if I can find Chris and Carlos."  
  
She smiled as Jill looked up at her and sat up straight.  
  
"Ok, but I get to choose the film, and I choose...Shaun Of The Dead," she replied. The other woman smiled and helped her stand up.  
  
"Hmm, a romantic comedy with zombies, good choice," she commented before leading her downstairs where the others were waiting.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Hey, why do we have to see Shaun Of The Dead? Haven't we seen enough zombies?" Carlos complained as they all piled into Leon's car.  
  
"Hey, Jill chose it, and just be thankful that she didn't say Dawn Of The Dead," Rebecca muttered.  
  
Jill casually walked up the driveway, towards the car, as though they had all the time in the world. She only sped up when Chris yelled out that the film started in ten minutes.  
  
"I would rather have stayed in bed," she said to herself. When she finally reached the car, she realised the problem that they had with room.  
  
"Erm...guys," she said, "we have six people, and there is only room for five in the car."  
  
"I say we ditch Claire...ow...no...Hey, it was a joke!" Leon replied, being elbowed in the ribs by the woman in question. Chris smiled and grabbed Jill around the waist before pulling her down onto his knee and pulling the door closed.  
  
"Problem solved," he said, still smiling.  
  
"Whatever," Jill muttered, trying not to look at him.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ben Johnson stood alone in the shop at the Odeon cinema, waiting for Louise to get the food and drinks. 'Why the hell did I do that? I love Jill,' he told himself. 'Maybe if I give her a few days to cool off then explain myself.' Still, he knew that no matter how hard he tried, Jill would never come back to him. He quickly glanced over at Louise, the young Canadian woman that he had met on his business trip. Sure, she was attractive, 'But not nearly as beautiful as Jill,' he kept telling himself.  
  
"Hey, are you okay? You look a bit lost," Louise said, seeing the vacant expression on his handsome face. Ben just nodded and told her that he had a headache.  
  
"What time does the film start?" He asked her. She quickly glanced at her watch.  
  
"Five minutes," she replied, looking over his shoulder, "hey, isn't that the girl who walked in on us?" Ben turned around and looked around in confusion. The colour drained from his face as his eyes fell on about five or six people walking through the door of the cinema.  
  
"Shit!" He swore, "let's get out of here!" But it was too late, they had already seen him, and right now, the one he recognised as Chris was walking over to where he stood, and he didn't look very happy.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N- Damn, it isn't as long as I was hoping. And it's a bit dialogue-heavy, but at least I finally got it finished! I only had to retype it again twice after this stupid computer crashed. I have to learn to save it more often. Anyway, do you think Chris will do something stupid? The next chapter will focus more on Leon/Claire, and I'm going to start to develop a relationship between Chris and Jill. I'll give you a clue...remember Beauty and the Beast? Remember when Belle started to realise her feelings for Beast? Well, it's going to be sort of like that...Chris can't win every fight, can he? And any ideas for what I should do will be greatly appreciated. Erm...and please don't ask about my name. And thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far. 


	3. Unwanted Feelings

Every time we lie awake  
  
After every hit we take  
  
Every feeling that I get  
  
But I haven't missed you yet  
  
Only when I stop to think about it  
  
I hate everything about you  
  
Why do I love you  
  
I hate everything about you  
  
Why do I love you  
  
*Three Days Grace - (I Hate) Everything About You*  
  
Chris stopped when he saw him standing by the shop entrance with a woman. 'He's got some guts,' he thought, clenching his fists at his side.  
  
"Oh my God! It's her, the Canadian!" He heard Jill gasp. That was all it took for a single spark to ignite inside his head, and before he knew it, he was walking over to them, not quite knowing what he was going to do. He ignored Jill's pleas and roughly pushed his sister aside when she tried to get in his way. He smiled when he saw the frightened expression on Ben's face, 'Oh yeah, and you should be scared,' he thought.  
  
"Whoa, Chris, no, please, let me explain, I-" Ben started, but was silenced by a fist sharply connecting with the side of his face.  
  
"I don't want to hear it!" He yelled back, picking Ben up and throwing him out of the shop. Ben groaned and held his head as he sat up and touched his lip. His hand came away stained crimson with his own blood, and he scowled as he wiped his hand on the carpet and  
  
lunged for Chris.  
  
"Stop it!" Claire yelled, running over to the fight, but it had no effect. She quickly looked around to see the manager of the cinema walking over to them and telling them to take it outside or he would call the police. He was obeyed a few seconds later, when the two men  
  
crashed through the window, sending shards of glass flying everywhere. This didn't stop them, as they continued to exchange vicious blows, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they had just smashed the window of a very popular cinema.  
  
"I am so sorry, I promise we'll pay for the damages," Claire told the cinema manager who was currently tearing his hair out. Jill looked at the manager, then at the Canadian woman, then at the fight outside.  
  
"That's it, I've had enough!" She screamed and walked outside to where everyone was gathered. She pushed her way through the crowd, towards the fight.  
  
"Stop it!" She screamed, interrupting Chris and Ben for a few seconds before Ben punched Chris and he returned it.  
  
"I said stop it! Right now!" She yelled, pulling the back of Ben's T-Shirt to get him off Chris. "You are both acting like spoiled brats!"  
  
Ben, however, didn't realise that it was Jill behind him, and he spun around, lashing out and catching her in the jaw.  
  
"Jill, I am so sorry, I..." he told her, placing his hand on her shoulder. There were a few 'ooh's from the spectators when she viciously back-handed him.  
  
"Get out of here, right now! And take that little slut with you," she said, pushing past him, about to yell at Chris. Ben didn't argue with her, he knew what Jill was like when she was pissed. Jill sighed as she watched Ben walk away. 'At least Chris didn't do him any serious harm,' she thought. He only had a few scratches, a fat lip, and what looked like the start of a black eye. She shook her head and turned to look at Chris...and screamed.  
  
"Chris!" She gasped. His once-handsome face was covered with blood, and she could see rips in his T-Shirt when he stood up, obviously from the glass since he had landed on it.  
  
"Oh God, come on, we've got to get back," she said, placing her hand on his arm, but he didn't move. Instead, he gently placed his hand on her jaw, where she had been hit.  
  
"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" He asked her. Jill opened her mouth to reply, but the words dissolved in her throat. She was surprised at Chris, she had never seen this side of him before, and when he touched her jaw, she was surprised at how gentle he was. She was also  
  
shocked, because the skin he was touching was tingling, and not because of the pain.  
  
"Chris," she managed when she finally found her voice, "you're still bleeding, we'd better get you to a hospital, it looks like you're going to need stitches."  
  
"I don't need to go to a freakin' hospital!" He complained as Jill dragged him to the car and pushed him in the back. She pulled out the extra pair of keys that Leon had cut for her and started the car, yelling at the others to get the bus back.  
  
"Jill, I don't need to go to the hospital!" Chris continued to complain. "I feel fine, trust me!" She ignored him and turned the radio on, drowning out his voice. Chris sighed and leaned back  
  
against the seat in defeat. He tried to occupy himself by looking out of the window and counting the trees that went past, but after ten his vision started to blur, and a sharp pain shot up his back. He groaned and felt up his back, underneath his t-shirt and his fingers brushed over several sharp objects that seemed to be embedded into his skin. 'Fucking great!' he thought, 'first I get the shit beat outta me, then I get Jill hurt, and now I have glass stuck in my  
  
back!'  
  
"Try not to bleed all over the back seat, ok?" Jill said in a mocking tone.  
  
"You're making fun of a dying man?"  
  
"Ha, you're not dying, Redfield, and you have finally admitted that you are injured," she laughed, stopping at the traffic lights. 'Now's my chance,' he thought, and pulled the door handle, only to realise that Jill had put the child locks on the door. 'Oh, yeah, laugh it up!' he thought as she started to laugh at his feeble escape attempt. Instead, he tried to talk to her.  
  
"Jill," he said, "please don't take me to hospital, I hate the places. Every time I've been, people close to me haven't come out. The first time was with my parents, after the car crash, and then there was the mansion incident... Please, just let Rebecca stitch me up."  
  
He wasn't sure if it had worked, because she never replied, instead she turned right and pulled up outside of the Police Department.  
  
"Come on," she said, removing her seatbelt, "I'll fix you up."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Claire swore yet again as the bus pulled up at their stop. She had spent all of the money that she had brought with her on keeping the cinema manager quiet. She had had to beg Carlos to loan her the bus fare. Needless to say, he refused at first just for the pleasure of watching her beg.  
  
"Where do you think they went?" She asked, climbing off the bus. Rebecca shrugged and replied that they must have headed off to the Police Department. 'Yeah,' she thought, 'for a little bit of patient/nurse romance, probably.' She grinned and grabbed Leon's arm.  
  
"Hey, do you want to get something to eat? I'm starving," She asked him. He pulled his arm free of her grasp and placed it around her shoulder.  
  
"Why not?" He replied. "Hey guys, we're just going to get something to eat, we'll be back in about an hour." Rebecca and Carlos nodded before heading off in the direction of the precinct.  
  
"So, where do you want to go?" Leon asked Claire, pushing a stray strand of hair out of her face. She looked thoughtful for a few seconds before flashing him a cheeky grin and pointing at a posh-looking restaurant across the road.  
  
"There," she said. Leon looked over at where she was pointing. 'It looks a bit too...romantic,' he thought. He looked back down at his best friend who still wore the same cheeky grin.  
  
"It will do just fine," he said with a hint of doubt in his voice  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Ow!" Chris cried. Jill sighed and dropped the shard of glass onto the table beside the bed.  
  
"Quit complaining," she told him and removed the last piece of glass.  
  
"Well, maybe if you weren't so...ouch!...rough."  
  
"Well, maybe if you learned to control your temper, there would be no need for all this." He grimaced, not from the pain, but from the realisation that she was right. If he had controlled his temper, then he wouldn't have punched Ben, Ben wouldn't have fought back, and he would now be enjoying Shaun Of The Dead, eating popcorn instead of sitting on a bed in the infirmary of the P.D. while the woman of his dreams removed large chunks off glass from his  
  
back. 'Maybe for once my temper is paying off,' he thought, considering the last point.  
  
"Right, turn around," she ordered, and he obeyed. She observed the small cut on his forehead, which he obviously obtained from falling through the window, which probably caused most of his other injuries. She picked up a fresh piece of cotton wool and ran it  
  
under the tap before wiping away the dried blood so that she could see the wound better.  
  
"By the way, what you did today was very...stupid," she told him, dropping the blood-stained cotton wool ball on the table. She picked up a fresh one and picked up a bottle, positioning it so that Chris couldn't see the label.  
  
"Do you really have to remind me?" He asked. He tried to move away as the cotton wool, soaked with an unknown substance came slowly towards his open wound.  
  
"Stay still, it may sting a little, but it will help clean it out," she explained, catching him off guard and pressing the cotton wool against the cut on his forehead. He whimpered, trying hard not to show how much it was stinging him. As well as he knew Jill, he was still a man, and hated showing other people his pain. Jill smiled and placed her hand on his cheek, forcing him to face her.  
  
"There, that wasn't so bad, was it?" She said, as though speaking to a small child who had just scraped his knee. She dropped the used cotton wool in the bin and picked up the other cotton wool balls, and the glass. She intended to drop them in the bin, but the glass shards fell out of her hands and landed on the floor, inches in front of the bin.  
  
"Shit!" She muttered, bending down to pick them up. She reached for the first piece, but withdrew her hand when she cut it on the razor-sharp edges.  
  
"Shit!" She repeated, looking down on her hand. A cut along the side of her hand, stretching from her little finger to the bottom of her hand was slowly leaking blood. Suddenly, a hand appeared as if from nowhere, and took her own.  
  
"Now who's the one being careless?" Chris asked her. She laughed quietly and tried to pull her hand away, but he wouldn't let go. He gently wiped away the blood with a tissue and reached up onto the bed for a bandage. Jill was about to protest, but she knew that he wouldn't listen, no matter how hard she pleaded. He was too stubborn. And he was currently crouched behind her, with his arms pinning hers to her side, so even if she wanted to move, she couldn't.  
  
"Chris..." She whispered quietly, then suddenly hoping that he hadn't heard her. Fortunately, he didn't. 'What the hell is happening to me?' she asked herself, 'Chris is my best friend, that  
  
is all.' But still, she felt her skin tingle where his hand lightly brushed it, and she was afraid to move because she could feel his muscular chest against her bare shoulders.  
  
"There," he said when he had finally finished. Even when he stood back up, Jill remained in her crouching position on the floor until Rebecca and Carlos walked in.  
  
"Wow," Rebecca said when she that Chris wore no shirt, "stripping off for me, are you?" He flicked her the finger before demanding that Carlos hand him his jacket. When he refused to take his shirt off when Jill had asked him to, she had taken the scissors to it, and what remained was now in various strips on the bed. Rebecca told him to sit back down while she examined his cut.  
  
"Hmm, it doesn't look like it will need stitches, and it has stopped bleeding," she commented.  
  
"So does this mean that we can go home now?" Carlos asked. Rebecca sighed at his inconsideration, but resisted the urge to thump him because she knew that he was only joking.  
  
"I guess it does," Chris answered, jumping down from the bed. He briefly glanced over at Jill as he walked out the door, wishing that there may still be a chance that she could learn to see him as more than just a friend.  
  
She noticed him looking over at her, and quickly occupied herself with the glass that was still on the floor.  
  
"Are you coming?" Carlos asked her. She didn't even turn to face him, but shook her head and muttered that she was staying to clean up. Carlos, however, wasn't convinced, and walked over to her, placing a hand on her arm and making her face him.  
  
"Jill? What's wrong?" He asked when he noticed that she was staring at the hand that held her arm. He quickly removed it and looked back up into her eyes.  
  
She continued to stare at her arm, which Carlos' hand had touched not ten seconds earlier. she noticed that her skin didn't tingle when he touched her the way that it did when Chris touched her. Sure, it tingled a little, but his hands were so cold.  
  
"I don't know," she told him, "but I don't think I want to."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
AN- Ack! I know, it was horrible. This is my least favourite chapter that I have ever written, but I'm posting it anyway. And I know that I didn't have much of Leon and Claire in this chapter, like I said that I would, but I'm going to have the next chapter almost entirely Leon/Claire, with a little Jill/Chris of course. Whew, anyway, I didn't have any time to check through it, so if you spot any mistakes, please tell me. Once again, thank you to everyone who has reviewed, and I hope that you continue to do so.  
  
Also, I feel that I have to mention this. It is almost April 5th, and if my sources are correct, I believe that it was exactly ten years ago on April 5th that Kurt Cobain died. I was trying to find a Nirvana song to fit this chapter so I couldn't find one, so I am now listening to 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' instead. Anyway, I just thought that I'd mention it. I'd hate to think what the world of music would be if Kurt Cobain (and the rest of Nirvana) had never been part of it...he is a musical genius who was taken too young.  
  
So, *Raises Diet Coke can* To Kurt Cobain.  
  
Disclaimer - I don't own Resident Evil, Nirvana, Diet Coke, Odeon or anything that you see in this chapter. I also don't own Shaun Of The Dead, but I would really like to. 


	4. The Plan & The Kiss

I used to worry my life away  
  
Counting every dime  
  
Shutting out the ones I loved  
  
Never finding the time  
  
And then one day I was overcome  
  
By loneliness and despair  
  
And deep inside I thought I heard  
  
"Lean on me, I'm here"  
  
He's a warm breeze  
  
Breathing life into me  
  
He's the sunlight  
  
Shining down on me  
  
*Avril Lavigne - Touch The Sky*  
  
Claire glanced around the restaurant. It was obviously much older than she was, but it still had a touch of elegance about it. She still had no idea why she picked it when there was a Pizza Hut just around the corner. And it wasn't as though she went to Pizza Hut every day, either. She usually went out for lunch with Jill, who had said that she was trying to keep an eye on her weight. Claire had pointed out that if she got any thinner she'd disappear, and had even started calling her a "stick-insect", but Jill was adamant that she needed to lose a few more pounds.  
  
"Are you gonna say something, or are you just going to sit there, looking lost?" Claire looked up at Leon and shrugged.  
  
"I'm starving," she told him, "I think I'll have to turn to cannibalism if the food doesn't hurry up."  
  
"You always think with your stomach," he said. She flicked him the finger and grabbed the menu off him.  
  
"What the hell is all this anyway? Is this written in a secret code or something? Oh God, what did I order?" Leon sighed and scratched his head.  
  
"I think you ordered pasta. I think we both did," he replied. Claire continued to read down the menu, even though they had both ordered already. Leon laughed when she pulled faces every few seconds, and twisted the menu around, trying to figure out what the food was  
  
called.  
  
"Can I ask you why you picked this place? There's a Pizza Hut just round the corner. And don't say that you go there every day, because I know what Jill's eating habits are like. I've lived with her for over a year, remember?" Claire dropped the menu and turned to look at him.  
  
"You know what?" She said. "I have no idea, I just saw it and thought..." 'That maybe we could...Argh! No! Shut up, Claire!' She added in her head.  
  
"Really?" Leon wasn't convinced. He tilted his head, trying to look Claire in the eye, but she looked away. 'What the hell's going on?' He asked himself. 'She's never like this.' He shrugged and started to pick at the corner of the placemat in front of him. 'Maybe...no, that's ridiculous.' He chanced another look up at her. She had started to look through the menu again with an interested look on her face.  
  
"Hey, is everything alright?" He asked her.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine, why shouldn't I be?" She replied, not looking up from the menu.  
  
"Well," he started, "One, you weren't interested in the menu before, and two, you are reading it upside down."  
  
"Huh?" She grunted, looking up at him, then back down at the menu. She smiled sheepishly and turned it the right way round.  
  
"Well, I didn't notice. You see, the food has really...strange...what? Why are you looking at me like that?"  
  
"Oh, no reason." Leon laughed and ran his hands through his hair. Claire was constantly telling him that he needed to get it cut, or it would soon be the same length as hers.  
  
"Hey, I needed to talk to you!" Claire said, suddenly remembering on of the reasons why she had decided to come to that particular restaurant...so that no-one they knew would be around.  
  
"I'm all ears," he said.  
  
"Good, well, do you know how it's Chris' birthday next week, his twenty- eighth? Yeah, well, do you know how he likes Jill?"  
  
"Oh, no! Stop right there! I am not going to let you play cupid with them! Not like you did with Carlos and Rebecca!" Leon replied. Claire looked at him with the eyes that usually got her anything and everything that she wanted.  
  
"Yeah, well, look at them! They are happily in love now"  
  
"Yeah, and they were before you jumped in to speed things up. Jill doesn't like Chris like that. You heard her, she said 'I could never think of you in that way'...Or...something like that anyway," he said, raising his voice a little.  
  
"Come on, she is upset over Ben cheating on her and Chris will be there for her, like he always is, and before you know it...voila!...They fall in love and live happily ever after!"  
  
"Claire, this is not a Disney film," Leon protested. Claire raised her eyebrows.  
  
"So...Let's make it into one."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"What do you mean?" Carlos asked Jill. He hated playing the agony uncle, unless it was for finding ways of getting into someone's pants. A subject which he thinks he is an expert on.  
  
"I don't know, just go away," she told him before calling after the others and exiting the room, leaving Carlos alone, and feeling rather stupid.  
  
"Yeah, don't worry Carlos, I'll be fine, thanks for your support," he said, mimicking Jill's voice. "Great, now I am standing in an empty room...alone...talking to myself...REBECCA!" The young brunette turned around as he came sprinting up to her.  
  
"You were gonna leave me all alone?" He asked. She smirked and pinched his cheek.  
  
"It was only for a minute...Your brain cell is alone 24/7." She was rewarded with a laugh from Chris and Jill, and a gentle shove from her lover. "Ouch! Come on then."  
  
"You okay now?" Jill asked Chris, trying to make conversation.  
  
"Um...yeah...Damn it, Carlos, why do you have to be so skinny?" He replied, tugging on the bottom of the jacket he wore. Jill laughed at him and shook her head. Maybe it was all just in her head. 'Maybe it's natural after ending a long-term relationship to be thinking about any other guy that way?' she wondered. She shrugged off any remaining thoughts of them as a couple and held his arm. He was surprised at first and looked down at her like she was mad, but she just kept staring at the floor with a dopey grin on her face.  
  
"How long do think it will be until they get together?" Carlos asked Rebecca. She giggled and shrugged.  
  
"I give it until his birthday," she replied, "I think Claire was talking about having a party or something."  
  
"Hmm...Talking about 'getting together', what about Leon and Claire? What was with them earlier? I mean, he must have been staring at her for the entire bus journey. I thought he liked Jill?" Carlos said.  
  
"Jill? No, I think they are old family friends. And besides, maybe him liking Jill, if he does, which I'm not saying he does, because he doesn't, is just a cover-up for him liking Claire?" Rebecca replied. Carlos raised his eyebrows, his way of telling her to explain it in English. She sighed and told him to forget it before jogging up to Jill and Chris.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Hmm, a real case of Beauty and the Beast," Leon chuckled. Claire gave him a sharp kick under the table.  
  
"Ouch...Ok, then, what do we do?" He asked.  
  
"Well, a makeover couldn't hurt...Jill I mean, not Chris...Some new clothes...A lot of alcohol-" She started.  
  
"Whoa! You know as well as I do that she's not a big drinker."  
  
"Well, she'll have to drink if we throw a party. And, erm...well.."  
  
Claire grabbed his hair and pulled him closer to her, so that she was able to whisper in his ear. He laughed as she whispered her plan in his ear. It seemed like a good idea, but then again, it was Claire's idea, and Claire's idea had a tendency to go spectacularly wrong. She smiled as she returned to her sitting position.  
  
"Well, what do you think?" She asked. He smiled at her.  
  
"I think it's got to be worth a try," he replied. She squealed with delight, causing him to laugh again. She smiled back at him, and pushed her hair out of her eyes. 'Wow, he's kind of cute,' she thought, looking at him. She giggled, more to get him to stop looking at her, especially in that way. Her brother had beat countless men up for looking at her like that.  
  
"Hey, the food's here!" She said, noticing the waiter walking up to their table with two plates of pasta. Leon tore his eyes away from her and looked over at the waiter. 'At last!' He thought.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Anyway, how are you feeling?" Chris asked Jill.  
  
"Hmm? Oh, Ben...Erm...I'm feeling a bit better, thanks," she replied. He sighed and placed his hand over hers, where it rested on his arm, and had done so for the entire journey back to his house. Rebecca and Carlos had went off in search of Leon and Claire, and they were left alone.  
  
"Jill, I know what you're going through, and you can't be fine," he said, wanting her to admit how she really felt.  
  
"You asked me how I was, and I said I was fine, so drop it, I answered your question." Chris sighed again and gently squeezed her hand.  
  
"Anyway, have you got anything planned for your birthday yet?" She asked him, trying to change the subject.  
  
"Not really, but I think Claire was wanting to throw me a party...I'm not a big fan of parties though. And Barry and Kathy are coming up with Sherry and their kids on Wednesday, and I think Rebecca invited her friend Bobby or Billy or something," he replied. "Where the hell are they? They left about an hour ago. I'm gonna go and see if I can find them."  
  
"Wait! I'm coming with you!" Jill replied, reaching for her coat.  
  
"It's probably Leon, he's probably got sidetracked somewhere. If he gets her hurt though, I swear I'll-" Chris started, beginning to get angry. He still didn't completely trust Leon.  
  
"Hey!" Jill said, placing her hand on his cheek to try and calm him down. "He's not a teenager, he's a twenty-three-year-old, responsible man. It's not like he's going to rape her or anything, you should know him by now. Besides, I can't think of anyone better for your sister to be with if she is in trouble." Chris twisted his face and sighed before saying, "Ok" and following Jill out of the front door.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Wow! That was really good!" Claire said as they exited the restaurant. Much to her surprise, the pasta turned out to be the best pasta that she had ever tasted. Better even than her mom's.  
  
"See, I told you it wouldn't be so bad," Leon told her. He stopped walking and turned to face her. "But it cost a fortune, and now I have no money for a bus fare, so we're going to have to walk home." Claire shrugged. It didn't really make any difference to her.  
  
"Hey, maybe we should do this more often?" She suggested. He looked at her with a confused look on his face.  
  
"What? Spend all of our money on broken windows and food, then have to walk home?" He asked. She groaned as if he were the dumbest man on the planet.  
  
"No, stupid. I mean us...Going out together...Just the two of us. I really had fun today. And besides, we can walk over to the P.D. and ask someone for a ride," she said. Leon looked at her and smiled. There was a warm breeze, and her hair was blowing lightly, causing her to occasionally push it behind her ears.  
  
"You know, you are kind of beautiful..." He told her. She slowly raised her head, and he regretted saying it instantly. He was surprised when she smiled. She reached up and placed a hand on his cheek, pulling his face closer to hers, just like she had done in the restaurant. She intended to whisper in his ear that she thought the waiter was beautiful too, but Leon mistook it for something else. As soon as he was close enough, he gently pressed his lips up against hers. She was shocked at first, as he had caught her off guard, but she thought 'What the hell?' and started to kiss him back. She moved closer to him, and he wrapped his arms around her. She moved her free hand up onto his shoulder, and ran the fingers of her other hand through his hair. 'Why the hell am I doing this?' She thought. She was almost glad when she heard a car door slam, and a familiar voice say her name. She broke the kiss and looked over to where the voice was coming from, and saw her brother furiously looking over at them. She also saw Rebecca and Carlos climbing out of a car that had been stood there for a while. It appeared that they had seen the whole thing and decided not to do anything about it. She wished that she could say the same for Chris. He still looked furious, and he was still pissed of about what Ben had done to Jill, and their fight earlier that morning. And if looks could kill, Leon would be six feet under by now.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The not-so-wise words of the Kiwi- Ah, another short chapter. Sorry, but I cut out a whole section at the restaurant, because Leon and Claire were babbling on about nothing, and it seems so short without it. And don't worry; I'm not going to let Chris beat up Leon. As  
  
much as I like Chris, I like Leon better, and if they did fight, I think that I'd have to let Leon win. Time for some calm, sorting things out, for Chris, I think.  
  
Also, I was going to upload this sooner, and work on it, but it is the first anniversary of my Grandmother's death, and my mother has been a bit down. She is out shopping now, so I am going to try and make her some lunch before she comes back. Hopefully without blowing up the cooker.  
  
Anyway, I'll get to work on the next chapter when I am at my auntie's, and who knows, maybe even one of my cousins will let me borrow their computer to upload it. I am so excited about the release of Shaun of the Dead (hits UK cinemas tomorrow) that I cannot write anymore, and am going to go and order my tickets now, while my mother's dinner is cooking. Also, I have a good idea for an ending, and Jill and Chris getting together...It's all going to kick off at the party, which will be in about two or three chapter's time. Once again, thank you to everybody who has reviewed so far. Until next time... 


	5. Planning The Party

So what's to fear when everything is crystal clear  
  
You realize that you should do the things you wanna do  
  
Don't give in to what people say, don't be ashamed  
  
To separate the feelings on your mind you can't sedate  
  
*Adema - The Way You Like It*  
  
Leon almost threw up when he saw Chris standing there. He knew what the guy was capable of, and frankly, he preferred not to be on the receiving end of anything he had to give.  
  
"Chris!" He gasped as the elder man started towards him, his hands clenched at his side. "Come on, man, be reasonable." He stepped back, only to bump into a wall. He quickly looked around for another escape route, but found nothing. Before he knew it, two hands  
  
seized him by the collar and threw him up against the wall.  
  
"I am being reasonable!" Chris yelled. "What the hell were you doing to my sister?!"  
  
"I-I wasn't doing anything!" Leon told him, looking down to see that his feet were several inches off the ground.  
  
"Chris! Leave him alone!" Claire pleaded. She tugged on her brother's arm, but he never paid any attention to her. He didn't even look twice at Jill when she proceeded to yank at the other arm. A quick glance over Chris' shoulder showed Leon that Rebecca and Carlos were on their way over.  
  
"Look, I swear I-" He started, but he was cut off when Chris' grip relaxed and he fell to the ground. Not wasting any time, he scuttled across the floor and turned to face his friends. He thought that it was all over, but it obviously wasn't, as Chris was currently walking up to him again. He didn't know what he was going to do, but he didn't want to find out, and he jumped up and grabbed Chris' fist as it came flying towards him.  
  
"Chris, please!" He pleaded. Thankfully, Rebecca and Carlos had arrived, and were currently trying to restrain the furious man, but it was all to no avail. Leon took another step back, frantically looking around the small alleyway that he had back his way into, in the hope of finding somewhere that he could, at least, hide. Unfortunately, though, he hadn't noticed the drainpipe that protruded from the side of the house, and caught his foot on it which sent him falling back down onto his ass. He looked up to see Chris standing over him, yet again, and closed his eyes, preparing for the impact.  
  
Chris was blinded by fury, and he had no idea what he was doing, and also no control. When he saw Leon fall, he took advantage of the opportunity and pushed Carlos, who was trying to pull him away from the terrified younger man, away. He wasted no time striding over to Leon and raising his fist. He never got time to deliver the blow, however, as at that moment, someone roughly spun him around, and he felt something hard hit him extremely fast. It felt as though someone had hit him in the face with an aluminium baseball bat. He was about to open his eyes to see who his attacker was when something viciously slammed into his nether regions. The pain was immense, and he collapsed onto his knees, unable to open his eyes.  
  
"Carlos, I am going to fucking kill you!" He screamed, guessing at who had just assaulted him.  
  
"Whoa! Don't look at me!" The Hispanic man defended, edging along the wall of the alley towards Leon. Chris blinked and looked into a pair of Skechers. Raising his head a little revealed jeans, a pair of arms holding an Iron Maiden T-shirt and a what looked like his sister's customised off- the-shoulder Minnie Mouse T-Shirt. The head on top of all this did not look very happy.  
  
"Quit complaining, it's not like you've ever used it anyway," Jill said as she watched Chris squirming on the floor. A slight movement underneath Leon's Iron Maiden T-shirt told him that she was rubbing her knuckles. She shook her head and turned to see if Leon was ok.  
  
"Jill?!" Chris said, unable to believe that she had been his assailant. She wasn't his last either, as Claire held out a hand to help him up then slapped him as soon as he was on his feet.  
  
"How the hell could you do that?!" She demanded, hammering his chest with her fists. "It's hard to believe that I'm the youngest child!"  
  
"Claire, I'm sorry-" He started to reply.  
  
"Oh, yeah, you should be! If you'd hurt him, I'd never have spoken to you again!" She yelled back before heading off towards Rebecca and Carlos' car, where they had already taken Leon. When they pulled away, it was just Jill and Chris left. She didn't even look at him,  
  
and told him to get in the car. Neither of them said a word on the journey home, and Chris spent most of it examining his face in the mirror. There was already a red patch on his face that looked as if it was starting to bruise. That, added onto his other injuries, didn't exactly make him look any better. He didn't even realise that they were back at his house until Jill climbed out of the car and waited patiently by the front door. It was evident that the others had went back to Leon and Jill's apartment, so he climbed out of the car and opened the door to let her in. She waited until he had closed the door behind him before she spoke.  
  
"What the fuck do you think you were doing?" She demanded, not holding back any of her anger. Chris hung his head sheepishly and sat down on the couch.  
  
"I-I don't know," he answered. "I guess I just-"  
  
"You guess what? Chris, you have to deal with the fact that Claire is growing up! She's not a child anymore, and you can't just go beating up every single guy that shows an interest in her! She's twenty-one years old...You don't need to play the father figure anymore. She doesn't need a father anymore...she needs a brother...a friend. And if you can't be there for her, and respect her decisions instead of making them for her...Then you're going to lose her,"  
  
Jill explained. She hadn't meant to be so harsh, but she had to make Chris see that he was being over-protective. She was surprised when she saw tears in his eyes. Feeling guilty, she walked over to the sofa and sat down beside him.  
  
"You're right," he said, acknowledging her presence. "Maybe I am going to lose her...Maybe I already have...God, I'm such an asshole,  
  
I can never do anything right!" Jill placed a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"I didn't say that...When I found out that Ben was cheating on me, you were there for me...And don't say that it was ages ago, because it was just this morning," she reassured him. 'Why was I so horrible to him?' She asked herself.  
  
"What should I do?" He asked, turning to face her.  
  
"Well, you need to apologise to Leon...and Claire," she replied. "Oh, and talking about apologies...I'm sorry about before."  
  
Chris laughed.  
  
"Well, I guess that I could always look into adoption," he joked. Jill smiled back at him. She loved his smile; it always used to make her feel better, though she didn't know why. But now...now it made her go weak at the knees.  
  
"Chris...I've been wondering about something," she said, tearing her eyes away from him. "I've known you, what, four years? Maybe five? Anyway, in all the time I've known you, you've never had a girlfriend. And you're turning twenty-eight next week...I just though, are you ever going to settle down?"  
  
"Twenty-eight? Jill, I was born in nineteen seventy-three...It's two thousand now; I'm turning twenty-seven next week. Who told you I was twenty- eight?" He asked.  
  
"Umm...Claire...Answer the question!" She said, with a sneaking suspicion that he was trying to avoid answering it.  
  
"Umm...Well...There is this girl that I've liked ever since I met her four years ago. I've kind of been waiting...Hoping that she felt the same way, but she doesn't," he answered as inconspicuously as he could. Jill stared at him for a few seconds. 'Could he mean...no...well I've known him for four years, but I've never said- Oh, god, I said that I could never see him as more than just a friend. But he couldn't be talking about me...Could he?' She wondered.  
  
"Well, she's insane," she replied, her voice shaking. She looked away, then back at him to find that he was staring at her.  
  
"What?" She asked, starting to feel a little uncomfortable. He closed his eyes and shook his head.  
  
"Nothing...Forget it," he told her. She smiled as she thought of something.  
  
"Hey, Chris...Why don't you tell me about this girl?" She asked. She had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing when she saw the colour drain from his face. He coughed and looked up at her.  
  
"Well," he started. "She's amazingly beautiful, she's single...Umm...She is kind...Well, she's perfect in every way. But she's painfully unattainable." Jill tried to reply, but she couldn't seem to find her voice. All of the time that he was speaking, he had been looking at her, admiring her, and it made her feel slightly uncomfortable. When she finally found her voice, she opened her mouth to ask if she would know this woman and hopefully get him to reveal if this perfect woman was indeed her, but didn't get the chance to say anything, because at that minute, Claire came through the door followed by a dishevelled-looking Leon.  
  
Claire looked at her brother, then at Jill who muttered something about making coffee and asking Leon if he wanted to help. When they were both in the kitchen, Claire looked at Chris.  
  
"Claire...I'm so sorry," he said as she took a seat on the opposite end of the sofa from him. She didn't reply, instead she just kept staring at the floor. She was confused. Not just about Chris, but about a lot of things...including her feelings for Leon. She had been denying them for so long, and when she had finally decided to accept them, Chris went mad and tried to start a fight with him.  
  
"Why?" She asked in a voice, which Chris had to strain his ears to hear. "Why did you do it?"  
  
"I-I guess I was jealous," he replied, finally admitting it. This caught Claire's attention, and she looked up at him in curiosity.  
  
"Jealous? Why?" Chris shrugged.  
  
"I don't know. Maybe it was because I was always the one you relied on. I didn't like the thought of being shut out. I love you, and...I just don't want you getting hurt. And I don't really trust Leon," he told her, finally making sense out of what Jill meant. Claire moved closer to him.  
  
"Chris, I'm never going to shut you out. I just need more space. And you should trust Leon. If you can't trust him, then who can you trust? Just promise that you'll let me make my own decisions from now on? Please...for me?" She pleaded.  
  
"Yeah, ok. I promise. I don't see why I should ruin your love life as well as my own. Anyway, how is he? Is he ok?" He asked.  
  
"Who? Leon? Oh, yeah, he's fine but he's a bit shaken. You know, I think he looks up to you. I think we all do."  
  
"Ack, you're making me sound like an old man. Speaking of old, why are you telling everyone that I'm twenty-eight next week?" Chris asked. Claire looked at him with a dopey, puzzled expression on her face.  
  
"You mean you're not?" She asked, genuinely confused.  
  
"No, I am not! I am twenty-seven! Come here!" He grabbed his sister and pulled her over his knee before proceeding to tickle her.  
  
"Ah! No! Chris, please! Haha...no! Stop it!" She complained while trying to push his arms away. She kicked her legs in a vain attempt to wriggle her way off his knee. He eventually stopped, and looked down at her.  
  
"Dork!" She said.  
  
"Shrimp!" He retorted.  
  
"Moron!"  
  
"Loser!" They both laughed. For a second, they both felt as though they were children again. They would always fall out over stupid things like who's turn it was to wash up, who had the largest Easter egg and what T.V. program to watch. Their spats never lasted long, and when they made up they always used to make fun of each other. While he was busy laughing, Claire sat up and briefly kissed Chris on the cheek.  
  
"Hey, we need to start making arrangements for this party of yours!"  
  
She said. "And I think you'll like what we've got in store for you."  
  
"As long as it isn't another stripper. The one you booked for my Twenty- First turned out to be a man!" He replied. Claire laughed as she remembered it.  
  
"Chris Redfield...stripper? Chris, you are immature!" Came a voice form behind them. They both looked up and saw Jill, who was obviously the owner of the voice, and Leon, both sans coffee, which suggested that they had just been talking in the kitchen. Jill shot Chris a Look and Claire stood up, allowing her brother to stand.  
  
"Erm...Leon," he said, his voice shaking. "Erm...I'm sorry about before, I wasn't thinking. Erm...just don't hurt her ok? Coz if you do, I-ow! Ahem...nothing." He rubbed his shin where Claire had kicked it and looked up at Leon.  
  
"No sweat. Nobody got hurt, did they?" The younger man replied. Chris smiled and held out his hand, which Leon shook.  
  
"Friends?"  
  
"Friends." Jill smiled. This was odd behaviour from Chris. Normally he would be in a huff with Leon, and Claire, for weeks.  
  
"Hey, we have a party to plan!" Claire yelled, making everyone jump. "Erm...Leon, call Carlos and sort out a venue and catering. Chris, you go with him, and try not to freak out this time, please. Jill, we're going shopping!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"I hope we didn't interrupt anything between you two," Claire told Rebecca when they met her outside of HMV.  
  
"Whatever," was her reply. Claire was a bit dubious about letting Chris drive Leon to Carlos and Rebecca's house, but she let them go as long as he promised to tell Rebecca to meet them.  
  
"Do you really think we should let the boys sort out the catering?" Rebecca asked. Jill chuckled and shrugged.  
  
"Everyone will probably be eating Chinese take-aways all night," she joked. "Hey, we need to remember invitations as well, and the music."  
  
"Well, the boys seemed fine about the music, and we'll get the invitations while we're out," Claire said. She looked around at the shops, trying to figure out where they could get good clothes from.  
  
"Claire, why did we come out in the first place? Why didn't we help the boys?" Jill asked curiously. Claire hummed and grabbed her arm after seeing a clothes shop further down the mall.  
  
"To get you some clothes," she replied.  
  
"Clothes? What's wrong with the stuff I have?" Jill sounded offended.  
  
"Well, no offence or anything, but your wardrobe consists of jumpers, trousers and the odd dress that doesn't fit you. You can't wear them to a party," Claire explained.  
  
"Why not? And I do have a mini skirt and a boob-tube if you want me to turn up dressed like Pamela Anderson."  
  
"Jill, there are rips in them, and the bloodstains are still not out from when you wore them in Raccoon. Here we are." Claire finally let go of Jill's arm when they stepped inside the shop she had chosen. Jill gulped. It didn't seem like the kind of shop where she could afford anything. The clothes didn't seem posh, but they looked expensive.  
  
"Claire, why can't we just go to the Gap? It's just around the corner," she protested. Claire was a notorious big-spender, and within the hour she would probably bleed Jill's purse dry. At the moment she needed all the money that she had. Rebecca rubbed her eyes and looked in wonder at the magnificent clothes that surrounded her.  
  
"Oh, wow!" She gasped and ran off towards some dresses at the far end of the shop. Claire chuckled and grabbed Jill's arm again. Jill rolled her eyes and reluctantly followed her. She released her vice-like grip on her arm when they reached the dresses that Rebecca was  
  
currently marvelling at.  
  
"Here, take this one, and this one...Ooh, and this one too," Claire said, piling the dresses onto Jill's outstretched arms. Rebecca giggled and started to look through them.  
  
"Oh, wow, this is perfect!" She said, holding the dress up against Jill's slender body.  
  
"It's a bit...revealing," she said, causing Rebecca to tut.  
  
"That's the whole point," she replied, as if Jill was stupid. "Otherwise, how is he ever going to admit that he likes you?"  
  
"Who?" Jill asked, starting to get irritated. Sure, the dresses were beautiful, but she could never afford them. 'They may look good on other people, but they'll never look good on me,' she told herself.  
  
"Chris!" The other two girls replied in unison. Jill looked at them, horrified.  
  
"Oh, come on, he's gaga over you. Everyone else has noticed. And Carlos and I were outside that infirmary longer than you think. It was just like back at the cinema, every time he touches you, you go into a complete brain freeze," Rebecca told her, as if it was obvious. If she didn't have a dozen or so dresses hooked over her arms, Jill would have pounced on the twenty- year-old.  
  
"I don't like Chris, alright?" She breathed, trying extremely hard not to yell. "I just broke up with my long-term boyfriend this morning, and I have sworn never to date another guy as long as I live."  
  
"Well, there's always that secretary who keeps eyeing you up," Claire said. Jill looked at her, shocked.  
  
"Mrs Peterson? She's happily married with children, I'll have you know!" She shrieked. She was ready to just drop the dresses and run.  
  
"Yes, and she has a secret female lover, I bet you didn't know that!" Claire replied. She placed another dress onto the pile that was almost obscuring Jill's face, and Rebecca pushed her into the changing rooms.  
  
"Let us see!" They shouted at Jill as they pulled the curtains closed. They giggled and sat on the floor outside of Jill's cubicle.  
  
"Oh, I didn't tell you about our little plan, did I?" Claire asked Rebecca, who shook her head. Smiling, Claire leaned over and whispered in her ear. Rebecca giggled, and looked at the unmoving curtain beside them.  
  
"Who would be that crazy?" She asked. Claire shrugged and they both looked at each other for a few seconds, before speaking at the same time.  
  
"The mayor's daughter."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The ramblings of a demented Kiwi - How can you tell that it was  
  
rushed? Actually, it's only the first half of the chapter, because  
  
my hand is getting tired and I can't be bothered to type the rest  
  
up. Also, I have a ridiculous amount of homework that needs to be  
  
done soon, so I better start doing it. The bit in the shop, I must  
  
dedicate to my female cousins who put me through hell in a shop  
  
who's name I forgot. So, anyway, I can't think of a name for the  
  
mayor's daughter, so I would appreciate it if you could help me out.  
  
Also, I would like to say a thank you to the people who went to see  
  
Shaun Of The Dead with me (you know who you are). It was hilarious,  
  
and I highly reccomend that you go and see it right now! After you  
  
review of course :). According to some random person walking out of  
  
the cinema, it was more gory than Dawn Of The Dead, which I haven't  
  
actually seen yet. Also, if anyone sees the new trailer for the  
  
second RE movie, could you please tell me if I can find it anywhere 


	6. Holding On

Hey Jack It's a fact they're talkin' in town  
I turn my back and you're messin' around  
I'm not really jealous don't like lookin' like a clown  
I think of you every night and day  
You took my heart then you took my pride away  
**Joan Jett - I Hate Myself For Loving You**  
  
Jill stood infront of the full-length mirror and stared at her reflection. She wasn't looking at it, just starting at it. She was too busy thinking about what Rebecca and Claire had said. Was it true? Did Chris actually like her? Maybe even love her? She pulled a disgusted face at the dress she wore. It was hideous.  
  
"Why the hell did I agree to this?" She asked herself as she slipped the 'dress' off and reached for the next one. This one was black, unlike the one she had just worn, which she assumed the designer had intended to be some colour between pink and yellow. She didn't see how this was possible, but they had managed to get an extremely vile colour that looked as though a cat had peed on it. She pulled the new dress over her head, and was surprised to find that it was a perfect fit. She smiled and turned towards the mirror once again.  
  
"Whoa!" She said when she saw her reflection. The dress suited her perfectly. 'I wish he could see me in this,' she thought. 'It's a pity I won't be wearing it. Jeans and a t-shirt should do.'  
  
"Wow...You look respectable...for a change." Jill turned around to see Rebecca and Claire smiling at her. She faked a smile and turned back to the mirror. It was only when Claire stepped in beside her that she realised that the other girls had been trying clothes on as well. She pulled on the dress and breathed in, trying to make her stomach look flatter than it already was.  
  
"Claire," said Jill. "Erm...what you said about Chris...Is it true?"  
  
"What? That he wants to marry you and have lots of sex and babies? Yes, isn't it obvious?" Was the reply. Turning around and admiring the low back of the dress, Jill sighed. Her shoulders slumped and she sat down on the chair inside her cubicle. Luckily, it was near closing time and there was nobody else in the changing rooms.  
  
"I'm just so confused. I mean, I only just broke up with Ben this morning," she said. Claire kneeled down infront of the older woman and placed her hands on her shoulders.  
  
"Come on, Ben treated you like shit anyway. Why don't you just see what happens at the party?" Claire suggested. Jill smiled and shrugged.  
  
"Maybe," she replied. "I didn't feel anything when I kissed Ben, you know. They say there should be fireworks or something. Like nothing matters anymore, just you and him. I never felt that...Sorry, I'm just thinking aloud...Can I get changed now?" Claire looked thoughtful for a moment then stood up, briefly glancing at Jill's reflection before walking away to change back into her own clothes.  
  
Jill closed the curtain behind her and watched as the shadows of the two younger girls moved away. Did they really mean it? Could it be possible that Chris felt the same way about her?  
  
"Get a grip, girl," she told herself. Chris was her friend. They had known each other for years. Surely, if they were meant to be, then something would have happened already. 'Maybe it already has?' She wondered. She shrugged and pulled the black dress over her head. She took the coat hanger from the rack on the side of the cubicle and hung the dress up. She considered the possibility of buying it for a few seconds before rummaging through her trousers for her purse. She found it, and tipped all the money she had in it onto the floor before kneeling down and counting it out. She squealed with delight when she counted out enough for the dress, and she still had enough left over for an ice cream. She pulled her jeans on and shoved the money for her dress into the left pocket before picking up the remaining notes and coins. She was about to pick up the last note when she saw a small Polaroid picture lying face-down beside her. She picked it up and turned it over to see that it was a picture of her and Ben taken a while ago. They were kissing, their arms wrapped around each other. Claire had taken it without them knowing, yet it remained one of her favourite photographs of them. A tear fell silently onto the photograph and trickled to the edge before falling onto the floor. Jill held the picture against her heart and slid down the wall, not even attempting to stop the tears.

"Where is she?" Rebecca asked, looking towards the changing rooms. They had changed and paid for their clothes, but Jill still hadn't emerged from her cubicle.  
  
"I don't know. Will you go and get her? I need a drink," Claire replied. Rebecca nodded and ran off towards the far end of the shop.  
  
"Here is your change ma'am," the assistant said, handing over the few cents left over from the total price of her dress. Claire murmured a quick 'thanks' and quickly exited the shop before running over to the newsagent's opposite. She smiled at the assistant as she greeted her and walked over to the fridge.  
  
'Hmm...Dr. Pepper, Sprite or Apple Tango?' She wondered. Giving up, she closed her eyes and grabbed a bottle.  
  
"Oh, Sprite," she muttered, closing the fridge door. She screamed when she saw the reflection of a man standing behind her.  
  
"Oh, holy fuck, Leon! You scared the shit outta me!" She yelled, pushing past him and walking over to the till.  
  
"Sorry," replied Leon, trying hard not to laugh. "We were wondering where you were, so I volunteered to find you. If not, Carlos would have went and left me with Chris, and in light of recent events, I would like to avoid that kind of confrontation. At least for now."  
  
"Well, you have found us now, so I guess you can go back now, can't you?" Claire's tone shocked Leon, and he grabbed her arm when she walked out of the door.  
  
"Claire, what's wrong?" He asked. Claire sighed and wrenched her arm free.  
  
"Nothing! Now just go away, will you!" Leon grabbed her arm again, and when she turned around to yell at him again, he moved forward and kissed her, expecting her to have the same reaction as earlier. Instead, she whacked him over the head with her Sprite bottle and slapped him when he pulled away.  
  
"Claire!" Leon complained, rubbing his head. "What the hell is wrong with you? I thought-"  
  
"Yeah, well you thought wrong, now please go away before I scream!"  
  
"Claire, why have you been avoiding me? I thought we had something. You're acting like that kiss didn't mean anything! Why are you acting like you didn't feel anything?" He asked, afraid of what her answer would be.  
  
"Because I didn't!" She yelled. A split-second later, she wished that she could take those words back. She would have lied for an eternity if it meant that she didn't have to see the look on Leon's face.  
  
"I'm sorry..." She whispered.**AN-** Sorry it's a bit short...But I am getting a bit dizzy, so I'll have to split the chapter into two halves. Anyway, sorry it has been a while since my last update, but I have been really ill (why does that always happen around my birthday?) and loaded with homework. Anyway, for those of you who thought that Leon and Claire were already a couple...This is mainly a Chris/Jill story, so they will get together before Leon and Claire! Anyway, sorry for the short, crap chapter, and I'll see you another time! Disclaimer – I don't own Dr. Pepper, Sprite, Apple Tango, Resident Evil or Polaroid. I do own a Polaroid camera, however. 


	7. He Loves Me, He Loves Me NotHe Loves Me?

Bang bang, he shot me down

Bang bang, I hit the ground

Bang bang, that awful sound

Bang bang, my baby shot me down...

**Nancy Sinatra - Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)  
**  
"What?" Leon said, hoping that he had misheard her. Claire stared at the ground, unable to look him in the eyes.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I thought that I was in love with you, but...It was something Jill said...about Ben. Leon, I don't want us to end up that way, I like you to much."

"Like? But Claire-" Claire raised her hand to silence him.

"Maybe it's better this way, for now," she told him, starting to walk away. He didn't move when she stopped to place a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. Claire bit her lip and closed her eyes tight, trying hard not to cry.

* * *

Chris shifted his position as the credits for Resident Evil started to roll. They had tried to figure out what food there should be at a party, but they had decided that as long as there was beer, they didn't really care.

"Did that really happen?" Chris asked. Carlos shrugged and changed the channel.

"Possibly. I heard that there was an incident in a lab below the city a few weeks before Raccoon was nuked. Hey, do you know that they are making a sequel? And that Jill and I will be in it? How amazing is that?" Carlos said. Chris raised an eyebrow at him.

"Did you know anyone called Alice?" He asked. Carlos looked a bit confused for a few seconds before shaking his head.

"Not really, and Nemesis would never have sided with any human. Have you seen the actress who will be playing Jill?" He laughed. Chris smiled. As a matter of fact, he had, but he still prefered the real thing. He didn't tell Carlos this.

"What about her?" The boys turned towards the door, a bit red in the face, to look at the speaker. Jill dropped her bag next to the door and walked over to the sofa.

"Is Claire in the bedroom?" Chris and Carlos looked at each other before shaking their heads.

"I thought she was with you guys," said Carlos. Upon looking around the room, Jill realised that Leon was also missing. She smiled as she realised what must have happened.

"Maybe she's at home with Leon?" She suggested, laughing at the expression on Chris' face. Chris shrugged.

"Like I'm bothered," he muttered.

"Hey, Jill, did you know anyone called Alice when you were in Raccoon City?" Jill thought for a few seconds, then nodded.

"Briefly," she explained. "She got killed a while after I met her, though. Nemesis was about to attack her, and she just stood there. Big mistake. Anyway, what catering service did you guys order?" The two men looked at each other, uneasily.

"Erm, well...there was a slight problem," Carlos tried to explain.

"We, erm didn't know what everybody liked. I mean, Jill is a vegetarian, Rebecca likes hamburgers, Chris likes...anything, Leon doesn't eat at parties, I like fast food and...erm...what?" Rebecca was staring daggers at him.

"I don't believe it!" She fumed. "You didn't order anything, did you? I put you in charge of one simple thing, and you screw up! I guess that I will have to handle it...as usual!" In a fit of rage, she grabbed the phone, 'accidentaly' hitting Carlos over the head on the way and stormed off into the bedroom, taking the Yellow Pages with her.

"Oops," Carlos said, cowering behind a cushion. Jill just laughed, she knew that Rebecca should have done it herself in the first place.

"I'm just going in my bedroom for a bit," Jill said, desperate to try her new dress on again.

* * *

Claire fumbled in her pocket for the house keys, blinking the tears from her eyes. She knew that she had hurt Leon, and that was exactly what she was trying not to do. When she finally found her keys, she tried to open the front door, only to find that it was already open. 'Chris must be back,' she thought. She pushed the door open and entered the safety of her home. She could hear someone rummaging about in the fridge.

"Pig," she muttered. Did her brother ever stop eating? He was either rummaging through the cupboards for something that didn't take more than five minutes to prepare, or ordering a pizza. She was surprised that he was as thin as he was.

"Don't say hello then, I'm just your sister," she shouted, dropping her coat onto the arm of the chair.

"Claire?" She heard. Turning around to face the kitchen, she saw a small head poking out from behind the door.

"Sherry?" shrieked Claire. "Oh my God! Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" She ran over to the young girl, throwing her arms around her as soon as she got close enough.

"Well, I did tell Chris, but you know what he's like," Sherry replied, hidden within Claire's arms.

"Hey, how did you get in?" Sherry laughed and pointed behind Claire.

"Barry?!" screamed Claire. "Aah! It's like a family reunion!" She walked over to Barry and hugged him too.

"I haven't seen you since the press conference two years ago! What brings you back?"

"Well, I'm not going to miss Chris' twenty-seventh now, am I?" Barry chuckled. His voice seemed a bit deeper than Claire remembered it.

"So, are him and Jill married yet?" Claire burst into a hysterical laughing fit.

"You have got to be kidding! I think cupid has got a bad aim," She gasped between breaths. "He likes her, and I am pretty sure that she harbours some feelings towards him. The only problem is...her ex- boyfriend, Ben cheated on her this morning and she has vowed never to date again. So, we have a little plan."

"Oh, boy," Barry sighed. "Claire, your plans never work out, you should have learned by now." Claire playfully hit his arm.

"Anyway, we figured that if Jill thought that he was with someone else, she might show her feelings towards him," she explained. "If she hates his new girlfriend, it will be obvious even to my brother, the dumbest guy in Charlotte, that she 'likes' him. So, we are trying to get the Mayor's daughter to flirt with him a little. We aren't gonna tell her that he thinks that she is a 'grotesque limpet who needs to get a life instead of sleeping with every guy who looks at her'. We will tell her that he really, really likes her, thus encouraging her to flirt with him. This should get Jill jealous enough to admit her feelings! Then, they kiss, probably spend some time in the cupboard, get married, have lots of kids and live happily ever after."

"And Robert's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt," Sherry said, rolling her eyes.

"It will never work." "Why not?"

"Well, for starters, if Chris likes Jill as much as you say he does then there is no way that he is going to flirt with that horrid floozy." Claire paused to think for a few minutes before shrugging.

"Who gives a shit, Jill gets jealous extremely easy," she said. "Changing the subject for a while, what about you and Leon?" Barry enquired. Claire coughed. She had almost forgotten about her row with Leon earlier.

"What about us?" she asked, trying her best to sound uninterested.

"Well, you always look at him like you want to jump him or something," Sherry muttered, emerging from the kitchen with a smoothie. Claire didn't even know that they had a smoothie machine.

"Yeah, well, maybe I did once upon a time," she said, feeling the tears begin to form in the corners of her eyes.

"But, I-I think that I am over it now." Her last statement was more aimed at convincing herself than Barry.

'Aren't I?' She thought.

* * *

Jill spun around infront of the full-length mirror. The dress was perfect. 'It's a shame that it will be me taking it off,' she thought solemnly. 'Ugh, what the Hell am I thinking? I never go that far on the first day, not unless it was...someone special.' A little voice surfaced at the back of her head. 'Like Chris, you mean?' It said, smugly.

"No, not like-" She started to say out loud, but abruptly stopped when she stepped back into someone who was standing in the doorway. She spun around to see Chris.

"Chris! You scared the shit out of me!" She screamed, not noticing the dumb look on his face.

"Well-ah-bu-" He stuttered. He was too busy staring at Jill to get a coherent sentence out.

"Uh-ne-new dress?" He choked. Jill looked down at the black thing that she wore.

"Um...yeah...do you like it?" She asked, twirling around. He stared at it for a few seconds, his eyes maybe lingering in a few places for a bit too long.

"Yeah, you look great...Well, you look great in anything," he smiled. She giggled when he said this, and he suddenly realised what he had said.

"I-uh, I mean, you wear good clothes, I mean, you have good...taste, and I uh, was just-I'm going to go now," he said, only making the situation worse. He silently closed t door behind him, leaving Jill on her own once more. She heard a slightly muffled thud from the other side of the door, signalling that Chris had banged his head against the wall. A few seconds later, the door opened again and Chris stuck his head around it.

"Erm...I came in to ask you if you wanted some hot chocolate...we...erm, can't find the coffee," he said. Jill giggled again and nodded, walking up and closing the door behind him. She paused for a few seconds before screaming and leaping on the bed.

"He loves me? He loves me not?" She pondered aloud. "Hmm...Maybe..."

* * *

**AN -** Well, there you go...the last half of the chapter. The party will be soon...so... Plus, I am trying to do a story where one relationship is going well (C/J), while another is falling to pieces (C/L). Hey, it has worked before. But usually only in a life/death sense. Anyway, I have got my LJ back up! There is a link to it on my profile page, so check out my boring life if you want. I also apologise for the late update, but every part of my life has been going to hell lately, including my health, so I have been a bit busy, what with teh doctors and such. However, my last (hopefully!) visit will be sometime thsi week, so I can (hopefully) update more often after that! Erm...and I have started another fic, so...yell at me if you want... Disclaimer - I own neither RE, Yellow Pages or Nancy Sinatra.


	8. Hold Me Now Until Forever

_I melt every time you look at me that way  
It never fails, anytime, any place  
This burn in me is the coolest thing I've ever felt  
I melt_

_Don't know how you do it  
I love the way I lose it, every time  
What's even better  
Is knowing that forever you're all mine  
The closer you get, the more my body aches  
One little stare from you is all it takes_

**Rascall Flatts - I Melt**

It was warm in the P.D. ball room. A good place for a party. It was obvious that everyone had made an effort. Even Leon had squeezed himself into a suit, and that was a rare sight. It wasn't as though he hadn't protested. 'Please don't turn me into a penguin' and 'what the hell is that thing' were mentioned a few times, and when things started to get really serious, 'Please, I'm only human' was screamed.

But this didn't cheer Chris up. It was his birthday, and he should be happy. But he wasn't.Everyone was up dancing, but he just sat at a tabe and moped. Even Jill was up, trying to help Barry do the Time Warp. Chris chuckled at this. Seeing an aging man, even if he was your best friend, wiggle around to a disco classic was just too much to bear. He tried to think about all of the gifts he had received, to take his mind of things. From Claire there was the usual, aftershave and a pair of comedy boxers (this time decorated with Yoshi the Dinosaur in various poses) and also a big hug. From Leon he got an anthology of Dean Koontz books (Chris didn't read much, but he loved Dean Koontz almost as much as Tom Clancy. He only read so that he and Jill had things to discuss. But Jill was more of a Helen Fielding type). From Barry he received anew Beretta, and Sherry bought him a T-Shirt with an 'obscene' phrase, as Barry put it (although he chuckled while he said this), across the front.Carlos and Rebecca had pooled together and bought him a laptop because he was always using their computer.But his favourite present by far was from Jill. It was a framed photograph of all the original S.T.A.R.S. team. Not a squad photo, so Wesker was missing, but a photo from Joseph's birthday party (which wasa week before he was killed). That photo should have been destroyed when Raccoon city went down, but Jill had found it in the S.T.A.R.S. office and rescued it. Although it was damaged, she had managed to restore it. On the back of the frame she had wrote 'Here's to the good times'. When she handed it to him, she had said that she had no idea what to get him, but remembered something he had once told her.

They had just defeated Umbrella, and everyone was celebrating when she had burst into tears. She sobbed that she had lost everything, everyone she had ever loved. And everything she owned, including childhood mementos, had been destroyed in the explosion. Chris had held her and told her that she had lost nothing. He said that the most precious posession was a memory, and nothing could take a memory away. Soil it maybe, but never take away.

So, she had found the photo andspent weeks and a few hundred dollars restoring it to its original beauty. She had worried that he wouldn't like it, but he loved it. More than she would ever know.

* * *

Jill was having fun, it was obvious. Claire and Rebecca were in stitches at her drunken attempts to teach Barry the pelvic thrust. Tearing their eyes away from the spectacle for few moments, they exchanged mischevious glances with one another. After weeks of planning (alright, _a_ week), it was almost time to put their plan into action. They casually looked around the room, shuffling toWhat You Waiting For?. When they spied their prey, they moved in for the kill.

"Hey, hun," Claire purred as Madison Miller, daughter of Mayor Steven Miller, turned to look at them. Madison asked what they wanted, and the girls grinned.

* * *

She was gone. Far gone. Barry had limped back to his seat and Jill had hobbled over to the table where Chris sat.

"These damn shoes," she laughed, removing them and rubbing her feet. It didn't make any difference so she replaced them and suffered in silence. "Having fun?"

Chris just smiled.

"The time of my life," he replied, the sarcasm evident in his voice. She looked at him uneasily for a moment before speaking.

"You do like my present, don't you?" She asked. It must have been at least the fifth time she'd asked since she handed it over, but she was just so nervous.

"Of course I do," Chris reassured her. "I just wish that they could be here."

"Me too." Her voice fractured slightly as she spoke, but she just smiled. Things had been so different back then. She looked up at the man opposite her and smiled yet again. He was so handsome. He always had been. He noticed her looking and covered his face in mock horror. Her soft laugh was interrupted by a new song starting, and she gasped inaudibly when she heard it. It was her favourite; Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now by Jefferson Starship. She twitched in her seat slightly as she closed her eyes and imagined swaying to its sweet, melodic tune...with Chris. She didn't deny it now, she was falling for him, and the more she tried to stop it, the harder she fell. She didn't even notice him stand up.

He had noticed the anxious look on her face as soon as the song had started. He didn't know how he had managed to pull himself up, but here he was, standing beside her. She opened her eyes and gazed questionably up at him. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out, she he laughed at himself and tried again.

"Do you want to dance?" He held out a hand, which she gazed down at. It took her a few moments to regain control of herself, and she gently took it. He wrapped his fingers gently around her own and pulled her up before walking backwards to guide her to the dancefloor.

He didn't have to pull her close to him; she did that all by herself. She couldn't help but notice her sharp intake of bretah as he wrapped his arms around her. He figured that she hadn't been close to a guy since Ben. But that was only a week ago. He shook away these thoughts and instead enjoyed the warmth of her embrace. She was almost as tall as he was now, with her massive heels, so she was able to lay her head quite comfortable onone of hisbroad shoulders. She didn't have to move for the whole song, Chris did all the work for her. Instead,she closed her eyes and tried to savour the moment, never wanting it to end. She breathed in his sweet scent, enjoying the safety and comfort that his arms provided. This was where she wanted to be; in his arms, forevermore. And, in a little dreamworld of his own, the same thoughts were drifting through Chris' mind.

* * *

**AN- To those of you who didn't die of a heart attack the moment you saw I had updated, hello! I cannot apologise enough for the ridiculously long wait. I have no excuse, except for chronic writers block. And an overload of English coursework, which took the fun out of writing. But here I am, older, not much wiser, but hopefully a better writer. And I don't take English anymore!**

**I am concentrating on my Mediator fic at the moment, but I'm also trying to continue everything that I left unfinished. I apologise for the short chapter, but I have exams coming up and I need to revise, etc. I just wanted to get the party started (heh...ambiguous). I hope you enjoyed it, although I highly doubt that it was worth the wait. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer - I own neither RE, Rascal Flatts, Yoshi the Dinosaur, Mrs Koontz and Clancy or Ms. Fielding. Or anything you see here...except the story.**


	9. A Slight Misunderstanding

**Holding On**

_I don't think that I'll see her again,  
But we shared a moment that will last till the end.  
You're beautiful. You're beautiful.  
You're beautiful, it's true.  
I saw your face in a crowded place,  
And I don't know what to do,  
'Cause I'll never be with you.  
There must be an angel with a smile on her face,  
When she thought up that I should be with you.  
But it's time to face the truth,  
I will never be with you._

_**James Blunt - You're Beautiful**_

The dance ended with the song, and Jill returned to their table. Chris, however, simply stood in the middle of the dancefloor. It took him a few moments to shake off the feelings that Jill had left him with. A cold shower should suffice, he decided. Except the PD didn't have any showers.

Instead, he decided to drink away the urges and walked over to the bar, where Leon stood, still fuming over his suit.

"This is the last time I do anything for her," Leon complained, adjusting his collar. His tie was now undone and hung loosely around his neck. Chris had abandoned his long ago.

"You say that now, but she has her ways," Chris laughed. Leon just smirked.

"Don'twe know it."

While the boys indulged in a moaning match about Claire, the girl in question took a seat beside Jill, with Rebecca setting down on her other side.

"We saw you two dancing," she smirked. Torturing Jill was currently her second favourite hobby. First was torturing Chris, of course. But Jill simply shrugged and took a sip of Barry's whiskey which he had stupidly left unattended.

"Oh, come on...you two hardly moved at all! You practically just stood there, arms around each other!" Rebecca exclaimed. "Might I add that you look very cute together." Jill shot her a warning look, but the younger girl just ignored it. She could tease all she wanted; it didn't bother her anymore.

"And what the hell is Madison doing?" Jill demanded, catching sight of the pretty young blonde who was currently throwing very pitiful seductive glances at Chris. The other two girls turned around to face the mayors daughter and smirked.

"Come on, it's obvious that she has a crush on him...she always has," Claire taunted.

"But you know, that girl will flirt with anyone to get a little action," Rebecca added.

* * *

"No more," Chris slurred, passing his empty glass to the bartender. He could hold his drink, but he had drunk so much that he could feel himself getting a little woozy. He turned around and leaned backwards on the bar, his eyes scanning the room. It didn't take him long to notice the mayor's daughter casually strolling over to him. She was pretty, there was no doubt about that, but Chris didn't really go for blondes. And Madison was too skinny for his liking. 'Now Jill, on the other hand' he thought, smiling to himself as he thought about her slightly muscular frame pressed against his. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear Madison when she spoke his name. 

"Hello?" She said, snapping him out of his reverie. He smiled at her, trying to be polite.

"Hey there," he spoke. He heard Leon chuckle beside him as the girl took a step closer to him.

"You know, I just wanted to say happy birthday," She smiled. Her smile was sickeningly sweet. "I honestly thought you weren't going to be dancing at all tonight, but I saw you with your girlfriend before." Chris laughed at her statement.

"Oh, she's not my girlfriend," he chuckled. Madison feigned a look of surprise.

"Oh, what a shame." She obviously didn't think this, however. "You know, I'm not here with anybody else tonight, so if you get tired of just...sitting around, I'm free to dance with. I'm free for a lot more, actually." As she said the last part, she slowly ran a finger down his chest. She smiled at him one last time before turning around and sitting back down at her table, making damn sure that her thigh was exposed by the slit in her dress. Chris swallowed.

"Now there's one birthday present I wouldn't mind," Leon laughed beside him. The guy was in stitiches.

"Get lost," Chris sneered, trying not to look at the girl.

* * *

"What the hell does she think she's-Oh, no. She did_ not_ just do that!" Jill fumed, not even remotely trying to hide her jealousy. Claire and Rebecca, however, were trying with all their might not to laugh. 

"Who the hell does she think she is?" Jill carried on. "She only wants him for one thing!" By this time, Claire had lost control and had to excuse herself, Rebecca following closely behind.

'Why am I saying this?' Jill asked herself. 'It's not like we're a couple'. But she could not think of any logical explanation for her feelings of hostility towards Chris. Part of her still loved Ben, but part of her felt something for Chris. She wasn't sure what it was yet, but it was making her feel uncomfortable. She didn't know why she stood up and walked over to the bar anymore than she knew what these feeling she had were. She told herself that shejust didn't like Chris beingused like that.

When she arrived at the bar, Chris turned red when he greeted her. But after his momentary flush, his gaze turned back to Madison who kept looking overat him, flicking her hair occasionally. Jill noted that he looked extremely uncomfortable. Maybe he genuinely didn't like her acting like that towards him, or he was indeed feeling something and feared that it might get out of his control. She hoped that it wasn't the latter, but she didn't know why.

"I really wish she'd quit doing that," Chris said, tearing his gaze away from Madison and turning towards Jill. He forced a smile for her, but he could tell that somehting wasn't right.

"Is she really bugging you that much?" She demanded. Chris was shocked by her tone. It seemed as though she was accusing hm of enjoying Madison's sexual harassment of him. But why was she acting so hostile? Claire and Rebecca would have found it hilarious.

"Yes!"He practically yelled. Jill looked uncertain for a moment or two, then her uncertainty turned into something else. Chris didn't know what it was anymore than she did, but it certainly wasn't the least bit hostile. She smiled at him and moveda little bit closer.

"Then let me get her off your back," she spoke softly. Then, she did something extraordinary. She reached up and placed a hand on either side of his face. She gently pulled it to her as she pressed her body up against him, causing the impure thoughts, which took him four Jack Daniels to shake off, to return. But what she did next caused a shiver of pleasure to run up and down his spine. She kissed him. On the lips. And he could do nothing but kiss her back, encircling her with his muscular arms. His mind seemed to numb with pleasure as she gently slid her tongue into his mouth, and he returned the favour.

Jill heard a shriek behind her, but she didn't care who it was or why they had done it. Heck, she had already forgotten why she had kissed Chris. Oh, yeah. To get Madison to lay off him...right? At least that's what she had told herself, but as soon as her lips met his she seemed to forget everything. And suddenly, the emotion that she felt whenever Chris was near was identified. Love. She loved him! She didn't need the fireworks exploding inside her to tell her that, or the fact that she never wanted that moment to end.

Chris seemed to be enjoying the moment every bit as much as Jill was. He didn't care about Madison or anyone else. He couldn't possibly feel the way he felt right now with any of them. The feeling was...indescribable. Until he remembered Jill's words. _"Let me get her off your back."_ In an instant, the fire burning indside of him was doused. She wasn't doing this because she loved him...she was doing this to get that stupid girl off his back. As suddenly as she had kissed him, Chris pulled away. He stood there for a moment, gasping for breath before taking off out of the hall. He heard Jill shout after him, but he didn't want to know. Everything that he had felt was a lie. He knew that he would never feel that again, never. And that hurt.

* * *

**AN - Alright, so it wasn't much longer, but I've been wanting to write that bit for _so_ long! So...Chris thinks that Jill only kissed him to help him...will he stick around long enough to her her out? Tune in next time, folks :).**

**Disclaimer - Only the story is mine, the rest isn't.**


	10. This Is How I Truly Feel

**Holding On**

_Something I've been keeping locked away behind my lips  
I can feel it breaking free with each and every kiss  
I couldn't bear to hurt you but it's all so different now  
Things that I was sure of, they have filled me up with doubt_

_**Yellowcard - Breathing**_

Leon watchedwith amazement as Jill pulled Chris towards her and kissed him. He knew that it was rude to stare, but he couldn't help it. But even he could not have predicted Chris' response. Which was to tear himself away and run off, obviously upset about something. 'If I had my arms around a woman that hot, I wouldn't run away,' he thought. It didn't come as much of a surprise to him when Jill visibly paled and ran off to places unknown.

"Oh my God!" squealed a little voice beside him. It was Sherry. "What just happened?" Leon simply shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine."

* * *

"Why did he just run off like that?" Rebecca demanded, pulling Claire aside. Claire was visibly shocked; her plan had obviously failed. 

"I...I have no idea," the older girl stuttered, still attempting to make sense of the events that had just transpired.

"If you have hurt my friend, I swear to God I will-" Rebecca started, but Claire garbbed her shoulders and shook her.

"Jill is my friend, too," She snarled. "And I don't know what happened; Chris loves her!"She let go of Rebecca and raised her hands to her hair. "What have I done?"

"Claire, calm down," Rebecca pleaded.She didn't want her to make a scene. But Claire ignored her and dug her fingernails into her scalp.

"No...no." She muttered, clearly out of her mind. "I've ruined it...I've ruined everything."

"Hey! Don't say that! It was as much my idea as it was yours." Rebecca walked over to Claire, and pulled her hands back down to her sides. Claire frantically shook her head.

"No, you don't understand,"she said. "I must have some incredible talent to fuck things up...first between me and Leon and now between Jill and Chris." A tear slid silently down her cheek.

Rebecca wished that there was something that she could do to comfort the distraught woman, but all she could do was watch as she ran from the hall, followed after a few moments by Leon.

* * *

"Why did I let her do that?" Chris asked himself, pacing back and forth across the lookout. After what happened, he had ran outside to the pond to feel sorry for himself. It was dark, and the pond was all lit up, making it look slightly ethereal. He currently stood on the wooden lookout that stretched halfway into the pond. 

The thoughts racing through his head did nothing to ease the pain of Jill's actions. He was already finding it difficult to look at her everyday, but now it would be impossible. Now that he knew what he was missing. He ran his hands through his hair countless times, and occasionally tilted his head back, a pained expression gracing his handsome face.

"Chris," a gentle voice behind him spoke. He didn't want to turn around. He couldn't let her see him like this. But Jill was no mind-reader and began to walk up the wooden pier towards him.

"I'm sorry," she breathed, something undetectable in her voice. "I never meant to hurt you." Chris laughed, not caring what effect this might have on her.

"You're _sorry_?" He repeated, scathingly. "I'm sorry, _Jillian_, but that doesn't quite cut it!" Jill took a step back, deeply hurt by his words. "I just want to know..._why_ you did it? You know damn well how I feel about you!" Jill misunderstood these words and began to cry.

"I'm so sorry, Chris," she sobbed, wiping her eyes with a bare wrist. "I just thought that you might...no. I was wrong. So horribly wrong." She gently shook her head and leaned against the wooden balustrade.

"First, you...you say that you could never like me more than just a friend, and now...it just feels like you're rubbing it in my face!" Chris was furious now, and he found it extremely hard to control himself when he was angry. But his words hit Jill hard and she stood up straight once again and turned to face the fuming man.

"What do you mean, rub it in your face?" She enquired, blinking the tears from her eyes. Chris just looked at her as if she was crazy.

"Everyone knows how I feel about you Jill," he spoke softly, his throat sore from the yelling. "What you did back there...it was torture."

Jill's tears immediately ceased flowing. Something wonderful was happening.

"Torture? But Chris, I don't understand..." Jill chooked on her own words. She couldn't believe that she had been so stupid...so blind. She reached out to touch one of his arms and he flinched as her fingers grazed his large bicep, but did not move away.

"You kissed me to make that girl jealous, right?" He asked calmly, his gaze on her fingers. Jill smiled and nodded.

"Yes, at first, but when I kissed you, I-" She broke off, realising how futile her words were. Instead, she looked around to make sure that they were alone. "She isn't here now." Chris looked around, confused.

"What difference does that make?" He demanded, still furious at his love interest. Jill smiled and slowly moved her fingers up his arm.

"You want to know how I feel about you?" She demanded, deliberately inserting the slightest trace of anger into her voice. Chris nodded feebly, weakened by her gentle touch. Jill smiled and closed her eyes for a moment before reaching up and pulling his head down so that her lips met his once more. Chris remained still for a moment or two before her meaning sunk in. She was kissing him, and this time there were no spectators. For the first time in his life, Chris felt a single tear trickle down his cheek. Hey, he was allowed that tear. After eveything he'd been through over the past week, he deserved to curl up in a ball and cry his eyes out. So he kissed her back, taking her slender yet muscularform in his arms and holding her close. There were no words to describe the emotions that coursed through his every vein.

Jill knew that she was taking a big risk when she kissed him, given his current state of mind, but words could not describe the way that she felt for him. Somehow, they just didn't seem to carry enough meaning. She moved her arms from his neck down to his waist and pulled it closer to hers,causing her body to tingle as it touched his. It felt so right, and she never wanted that moment to end, ever. Eventually, and with much reluctance, they paused for breath and rested their foreheads against each other's. Their breath was ragged, and they remained in silence for what seemed like an age, lost in each other.

"I love you too," Chris said, smiling and breathing heavily.

But just as their souls became one, another heart was breaking not too far away...

* * *

**AN - Wow, that was...short. But, hey, at least it got the point across...I hope :). I hope it wasn't too anti-climactic.**

**Thank you all for the lovely reviews! And it's great to see that some of the old timers are still hanging around. So, tek and FairladyZ, who have followed my RE work from the beginning...this chapter is dedicated to you :).**

**Disclaimer - I don't own anything (cries).**


	11. The Right Moment

**Holding On**

_Nobody wants to be lonely  
Nobody wants to cry  
My body's longing to hold you  
So bad it hurts inside  
Time is precious and it's slipping away  
And I've been waiting for you all of my life  
Nobody wants to be lonely  
So why, why don't you let me love you?_

**_Ricky Martin Feat. Chrristina Aguilera - Nobody Wants To Be Lonely_  
**

Claire didn't know where she was running to. More to the point, she didn't knowwhat she was running from. In her eyes, she had ruined everything. Chris and Jill now hated each other thanks to her. She had tried to do them an act of kindess, but it had backfired horribly. She ran out into the courtyard, tears streaming down her face. Because not only had she ruined Chris and Jill's relationship, but she had also ruined hers and Leon's.

She didn't hear the voice calling her name. She didn't even realise that anyone had followed her until she felt Leon's arm on her own. Her bare skin tingled beneath his touch. That was when she realised what a huge mistake she had made.

"Claire, what's wrong?" Leon sounded all brotherly, his tone both reassuring and gently probing. Claire didn't reply at first; she simply stared straight ahead of her. But when Leon turned her to face him, she could remain silent no longer.

"Iscrewed up, didn't I?" She muttered, her delicate eyes welling up with tears. Leon reached up and wiped away a stray tear which had slowly began to trickle down her red cheek.

"Whatdo you mean?" Leon was concerned for her, in a way he had never been before.

"I...it was all my idea to get Maddy to flirt with Chris so that Jill would realise what an idiot she was and admit how she felt." She breathed deeply. "But when he pulled away...the hurt in his eyes! I never meant for anyone to get hurt." It was at this point when she broke down, unable to control the pain she felt as it flowed out of her in the guise of tears and long sniffly sobs. Leon pulled her to him and wrapped an arm around her, the other stroking her dark hair.

"You couldn't have known that it would turn out like this," he whispered, rocking her gently in his arms.

Claire opened her eyes, the realisatin of how close she was to him dawning on her. But, to her surprise, she didn't pull back. Instead, she curled the fingers of her left hand around his right bicep, realising for the first time how muscular it was. She also felt it twitch slightly as she touched it, making it obvious that it was making Leon uncomfortable.

"But not only that, I've ruined things between us," she sobbed into his shoulder. Leon was confused. And not just by this confession, but more so because he had never seen Claire like this before. She had always been so headstrong and determined, not showing her emotions to others. And yet here she was, weeping like a child in his arms.

"No you haven't," he assured her, although he wasn't sure what she had meant by 'us'. He felt her move slightly.

"Yes I have," she insisted, pulling back but not letting go of him. "I treated you like shit and all you did was care about me. I had no right to treat you the way I did."

"But it was the truth, right? You didn't feel anything when we kissed?" Leon wasn't sure where this was going, and part of him didn't really want to know. The flutter in his chest that had materialised when she gripped his arm suddenly turned to a stabbing pain when she shook her head.

"No," she said, more tears coming to her eyes. "Which is what I don't get. I can't stop thinking about you, but when we kissed, I felt nothing. Jill said that she didn't feel anything when she kissed Ben, and I panicked. I didn't want us to turn out like them. Leon, I'd rather just be friends than not know you at all." The pain in Leon's chest grew, spreading to his lungs until he found it difficult to breathe.

"But we wouldn't turn out like then. I would never cheat on you...on anyone." Claire smiled.

"Yeah, but there's still the not-feeling-the-fireworks thing, and that's-" But what it was, Claire didn't have a chance to say, because Leon pulled her back to him and covered her lips with his own. Claire didn't protest or pull back, not this time. Something was different this time, and she knew it. As soon as his lips touched hers, something inside of her exploded. She pressed herself into him and she seemed to melt into his embrace. His lips parted as he deepened the kiss, sending a shiver of ecstasy through her body. His fingers trembled as they slid down her body, taking in every curve. They stood there for what seemed like an eternity until Leon pulled back, gasping for breath.

"-pretty important." Claire finished, still in a daze. Leon smiled and kissed her forehead.

"But I don't understand," she gasped. "How-" But Leon didn't let her finish and pressed a finger to her lips.

"Maybe it just...wasn't the right moment." He suggested, unable to hide his joy. She smiled back at him, suddenly forgetting about Chris and Jill and kissed him once more.

* * *

The party was almost over by the time Jill and Chris made their way back inside. Needless to say, a few inqusitive glances were thrown in their direction as they walked in, hand in hand. 

"So, how are we going to tell them?" Jill asked in a michevious tone. Chris shrugged and smiled down at her.

"I think they will find out sooner or later, whether we tell them or not." He turned and lifted Jill's chin up before kissing her lightly on the lips. A loud sob from somewhere in the room let the loved-up couple know that Chris' stalker had once again burst into tears. But they didn't care. Nothing mattered now that they had each other.

"Wow, what happened to you two?" Rebecca asked, walking up to the couple, looking all teary-eyed.

"We...um...cleared something up," Jill replied, biting her lip as she felt Chri's hands roam somewhere they only had in her dreams. "So...we're cool now."

Rebecca smiled at them, teary-eyed for all the wrong reasons.

"Where's Claire?" Chris asked, glancing around the room for his sister. He wanted to tell her himself before anyone else had the chance to. Rebecca avoided his inquisitive glance as she spoke.

"She...um...ran off," she mumbled. "She thought she'd ruined thing bewteen you two. We...um...we told Madison that you liked her. We wanted her to flirt with you so that Jill would get jealous and...um...admit that she has feelings for you. But you ran off and now she thinks that she's ruined everything."

The blissful expression that had adorned Chris' masculine features slowly melted away.

"She went that way," Rebecca pointed out, acknowledging Chris' concern. Without further ado, Chris removed his arm from around Jill and set off in the direction of Rebecca's finger, the two girls hot on his trail.

They didn't have far to go before they came across the runaway girl. By the looks of it, she hadn't got far. It also looked that she wasn't going anywhere in a hurry, for her arms were wrapped around a certain Mr. Kennedy, her tongue no doubt in his mouth. Chris came to a stop when his eyes fell on the young couple. He didn't know what to do; be happy or punch Leon's lights out. So, he laughed. He was still laughing as Rebecca and Jill snuck up behind him and spotted the two lovebirds.

"Well, she got over that quick, didn't she?" Jill asked, letting out a tiny laugh of her own. Things sure were looking up.

* * *

**AN - I am so, so sorry. That chapter is so short it is almost pointless. But what can I say? I had writer's block...I finished half of it and just didn't know what to write next. But at least it's all done now! Not the story...there's still one or two chapters left to go...maybe more. I was thinking about bringing Ben back into it, but that would seen too 'To Have And To Hold'-ish. I might do something with Rebecca and Carlos, there hasn't been much mention of them lately.**

**Disclaimer - Resident Evil Not Mine.**


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